1. Field of Invention
This invention relates in general to an inverted-sprinkler system for inverting and elevating water sprinklers. Inversion of the sprinklers, as shown and described herein, means turning the sprinkler upside down and securing it from an elevated position above the ground such that fluid is directed from above to the desired coverage area below, much like natural rainwater. The invention is directed, in particular, to a base and support structure that elevates and inverts an oscillating wave-type sprinkler, a rotary-type sprinkler, a pulsating type sprinkler, an impulse-type sprinkler, and a plurality of other sprinklers for the efficient and uniform distribution, from above, of any fluid that is to be dispensed over a particular surface or coverage area.
2. Prior Art
The effective sprinkler coverage area of residential and commercial irrigation systems is often reduced by growing crops, vines, shrubbery, trees and other natural and man-made obstacles which interfere with the stream of water ejected by the sprinkler. There are any number of commercially available sprinklers utilized in such irrigation systems. Oscillating sprinklers, for example, are commonly used to cover square or rectangular coverage areas. Typical oscillating wave-type sprinklers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,954 issued to Allemann (1989); U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,246 B2 issued to Heren, et al. (1981); U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,786 issued to Abrahamsen (1981); and U.S. Pat. No. D303,283 issued to Best, et al. (1989). Rotary sprinklers are commonly used to cover circular or elliptical coverage areas. Typical rotary sprinklers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,993 issued to Simmonetti (1994) and U.S. Pat. No. D378,399 issued to Simmonetti (1997). Pulsating sprinklers are commonly used to cover circular, angular, or elliptical coverage areas. Typical pulsating sprinklers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,070 issued to Chow (1990). Impulse sprinklers are also commonly used to cover circular, angular, or elliptical coverage areas. Typical impulse sprinklers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,742 issued to Whitehead and Ferguson (1990). Sprinklers are typically positioned on the ground in the center of the sprinkler coverage area. In the case of the oscillating wave-type sprinkler, locking devices are provided to restrict the coverage area by restraining the lateral movement of the sprinkler head, by having a pattern select feature (Heren and Breedlove, U.S. Pat. No. 7,252,246 B2 (2007)) or a sprinkler with perforated spray hose that is selectively flexed to produce a variable water spray pattern (Abrahamsen and Spector, U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,786 (1981)). In the case of pulsating and impulse sprinklers, deflectors are provided to minimize or maximize coverage areas by restraining the rotational limits of the sprinkler head.
A number of devices have been suggested to elevate the sprinkler above the level of the ground in order to allow the stream of water to pass without obstruction over vertical obstacles. Most such devices are sprinkler stands of some form which elevate the sprinkler above ground level to an appropriate height where fluid leaving the sprinkler is no longer blocked.
Inventors have created several types of sprinkler stands to maintain a sprinkler in an elevated position. Adequate for overcoming obstacles which block the delivery of water, these devices nonetheless have limited utility in achieving sprinkler coverage area patterns specific to the need of the residential or commercial gardener and others desiring to use sprinklers to deliver fluid to precise coverage areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,020 to Harward (1989), for instance, discloses a lightweight vertical support stand for a water sprinkler head. The invention has flexible elongated legs which are pivotally attached to a support hub. This invention is an improvement on earlier stands, such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,959,886 to Wadsworth (1934) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,600 to Richey (1954) which taught elevated tripod sprinkler stands with bases of varying stability, weight, and mobility. U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,749 issued to Ruprechter, (1989) teaches a swingable mount which tends to orient the sprinkler on nonlevel ground by the force of gravity. It has the advantage of optimizing sprinkler coverage area on nonlevel ground. Other than addressing the vertical limitations of watering nonlevel ground, however, it does little to overcome more typical vertical obstacles such as shrubs, vines, growing crops, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,027 issued to Hsu (2001) discloses yet another adjustable sprinkler stand, including a sprinkler mount which is supported by three adjustable support rod sets. A principal objective of the device is to elevate the sprinkler by means of the three adjustable support rods which can be set to various heights.
In all of these devices, the primary objective was to vertically elevate a water sprinkler head to reduce interference with the sprinkler coverage area caused by vertical obstacles.
United States Patent Application Publication No. US2007/0051829 A1 (Griffin, Mar. 8, 2007) discloses a stand for an oscillating wave-type sprinkler. The stand holds an oscillating wave-type sprinkler in an elevated and generally vertical orientation to provide desired sprinkler coverages. The device is limited to use with oscillating wave-type sprinklers and does not teach the complete inversion of the sprinkler to achieve the type of direct downward spray coverage areas taught by this invention.
Each of the foregoing inventions suffers from a number of common disadvantages.
a) The primary objective of the devices is limited to maintaining the sprinkler in an elevated position.
b) None of the devices allow for the full inversion of the sprinkler from an elevated position.
c) All of the devices direct the pressure of water leaving the sprinkler up from the surface in some fashion before gravity pulls the stream back toward the ground.
d) None of the devices teach the simultaneous elevation and complete inversion of the sprinkler head to achieve desired fluid coverage from above.
e) None of the devices teach the use of sprinkler stands to direct water leaving the sprinkler directly down to the ground.
f) Not all of the devices are able to achieve uniform and efficient watering because they spray water into the air, where it falls to the ground after the stream reaches its apogee, sometimes blowing beyond the desired coverage area, rather than spraying the water directly from above toward the ground.
g) None of the devices mimic natural rainfall by providing an elevated sprinkler which is inverted such that fluid is directly applied to the coverage area from above.
h) None of the devices have the variety of horizontal, vertical, and angular adjustments as does the present invention.
i) None of the devices allow the elevation and inversion of a plurality of sprinkler types (e.g. wave, rotary, oscillating, pulsating, impulse, etc.).